is there a true religion?

[kakowi]

In contrast, the gospels were:

(1) writings of four DIFFERENT individuals;

Of the 4 gospels, Luke and Matthew has believed to base on Mark, the shortest gospel and the resurrection paragraph is missing in some old scripts.

(2) written within one generation of Christ's death on the cross;

apparently so, and selected by the council, who has to sift thru' other "supposedly" gospels and they must meet certain criteria set up by them. Many other agnostic gospels are dispelled.

(3) served as a historical record of the teachings of Christ

probably so, just a record for Christians

(4) there are minor differences across the gospels but this reinforce two points:

(a) they were the work of different individuals

who may or may not be written by Matthew, Luke, John and Mark

(b) there was no collusion to misled the public; if that was what they intended, they could have done a better job to make sure the points were aligned

you are thinking in modern times, you are not in the ancient days, you do not have what they have, and they do not have what you have, eg, computers etc etc

(5) the main message across the four gospels is the same: Christ came into this world; Christ had died; Christ had risen; Christ will come again.

I will not refute the main purpose of the message

I would like to end this with

For those who believe, no proof is necessay,
for those who don't believe, no proof is possible. Stuart Chase

Your belief is your choice.

I have said all I need to say.

Everything boils down to whether Christ is God and if Christ has indeed resurrected. If he did, then the other aspect will be true also - that He will come again, this time in Judgment.

 

[commoner]

the basis of Jesus came, died for our sins, and resurrected,,, all based on the recording of the gospel = primarily the bible,,,,

so believing the source = believing in Him...

the thing about the number of people believing in so many years, same goes to other religions,,,

the argument of people dying for it, same goes to the suicide bombers,,,

will leave this matter to rest

 

[Ash007]

Sigh.... why does every discussion on religion degenerates into a discussion of Chritianity versus others. What makes Christians so self-righteous in their views versus others hating that?

 

[commoner]

if one claims to be the one and only tuth, there is no room for the others,,,,
religious harmony is a dream, religious tolerance is a reality...

 

[Ash007]

if one claims to be the one and only tuth, there is no room for the others,,,,
religious harmony is a dream, religious tolerance is a reality...

And this is the thing I don't understand about Abrahamic religions. They all believe in the one GOD. In fact, they all believe in the same and one true god. Yet you have the three major religion that arise from it. Look at the middle east, Palestine and Israel. Why can't they even get along with each other when they believe they are worshiping the same GOD? Din god say love each other as your own? (Correct me if I'm wrong, but you get the gist of what I'm trying to say) Maybe there is something about Abrahamic religions that makes them this way?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrahamic_religions

 

[kulgai]

if one claims to be the one and only tuth, there is no room for the others,,,,
religious harmony is a dream, religious tolerance is a reality...

it doesnt matter what others claim. Most importantly, tell us why u tink urs is the true religion? Hv u personally experienced something to convince u so?

 

[commoner]

what do i believe,,, thats a toughie,,, I do go to temples to pray, I believe in karma, I believe in retribution, I do pray in churches too

but if you ask me do I believe in Jesus/God,,,

Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, there are times I believe there's a God, there are times, he simply doesn't exist...

In chinese, 平常心，不求有功，只求无过

that still don't answer your question,,,,could there be there is no 1 true religion?
............................................................................................

 

[Psalm23]

There is only One God. This is the key doctrinal tenet in the Christian faith. Others have theirs and we respect them. But just imagine, if there are so many gods, when we died and our souls are controlled by these gods, who should we obey. Heaven will be like the earth or even like hell. Imagine all these gods fighting for the rights to control us.

One of the reasons why the world is in such a mess is because every government leaders want to control others. So the conflicts will go on forever. (Yes, it's true that we have so-called Christian nations fighting against non-Christian countries; we too have non-Christians nations fighting among themselves. We have seen Iraq a Muslim country invaded Kuwait, also a Muslim country. We have seen Iraq fighting with Iran for years and they are both Muslim countries. We have seen China, a Buddhist country, has serious conflict with Tibet whose people are almost 100% Buddhists. In the World War Two, the Japanese who are by and large Buddhists had inflicted atrocious crimes against humanity in China and most part of Asia. Many of the these people were also Buddhists but they tortured them to death). Fighting nations against nations and individual against individual cannot be due to one religion - it's just simply human cruelty and wickedness. Ask yourself this questions - Do you sincerely believe that if there is no Christianity, the world can live in peace? There will no wars, no robbery, no rapes, no cheating?

The Only True God (and for Christians, Jesus is the True God and again I respect your view if you think otherwise), will have the final control over the earth when He comes and establish His Kingdom. All conflicts will then come to and end.

Interestingly, if you are really a Christians and read the Bible seriously, you will cry out day and night for forgiveness. When we compare our lives to what the Bible teaches us - our thoughts, our deeds, our words, our desires - they are just not in accordance with what God intended for us. The more we read the Bible, the more we will find ourselves unrighteous. This is my own experience. As God say, "man's righteousness is like a filthy rag".

I beg for your forgiveness if I have offended anyone of you on my view. But Jesus said, know the truth and the truth will set you free. You may not know me personally, but I just want to tell you that nothing good in me. Apostle Paul confessed that he was the chief sinner and I want to confess that I am even greater than him when sins are concerned. But by the grace of God, through His blood, my sins are washed away.

If you want some words of encouragement, you may want to go to the thread Today's Scripture Reading in this blog Discussions about Religion. By and large, I have written them for Christians but non-Christians are welcome to read. Also your comments are welcome but no abusive language please. [Note: Even if you are not a Christian, I am sure your god will be very upset when you start to use abusive language and if your god does feel upset on the abusive language, than you need to think about whether you want him to be your god because even earthly parents will not want his children to us bad language.]

 

[scroobal]

Could you explain and elaborate why christians who follow the tenets strictly and those who are non christians, believers of other faith or even non-beleivers face the same level of personal tragedies such as cancer, accidents, earthquake, hurricane, fires, murders, theft etc.

Empirically, no has been able to mark those that suffer less from those who suffer more.

There is only One God. This is the key doctrinal tenet in the Christian faith. Others have theirs and we respect them. But just imagine, if there are so many gods, when we died and our souls are controlled by these gods, who should we obey. Heaven will be like the earth or even like hell. Imagine all these gods fighting for the rights to control us.

One of the reasons why earth is in such a mess is because every government leaders want to control others. So the conflicts will go on forever. The Only True God (and for Christians, Jesus is the True God and again I respect your view if you think otherwise), will have the final control over the universe when He comes and establish His Kingdom. All conflicts will then come to and end.

Interestingly, if you are really a Christians and read the Bible seriously, you will cry out day and night for forgiveness. This is compared to you lives and also my life (what we do, what we think, etc), they are just not in accordance with God's will. The more you read the Bible, the more you will find ourselves unrighteous. This is my own experience. As God say, "man's righteousness is like a filthy rag".

I beg for your forgiveness if I have offended anyone of you on my view. But Jesus said, know the truth and the truth will set you free. You may not know me personally, but I just want to tell you that nothing good in me. Apostal Paul confessed that he was the chief sinner and I want to confess that I am even greater than him when sins are concerned. But by the grace of God, through His blood, my sins are washed away.

If you want some words of encouragement, you may want to go to the thread Today's Scripture Reading in this blog Discussions about Religion. By and large, I have written them for Christians but non-Christians are welcome to read. Also your comments are welcome but no abusive language please. [Noe: Even if you are not a Christian, I am sure your god will be very upset when you start to use abusive language and if your god does feel upset on the abusive language, than you need to think about whether you want him to be your god because even earthly parents will not want his children to us bad language.]

 

[kulgai]

Personally I also belive that either there is no God or there is only 1 God. However, if there is 1 true God, why doesnt any of us experience him the way we so badly want to??

 

[commoner]

the people will say that God is not your servant, not answering to your beck and call,,,,,

with regards to suffering, some will say God has given you enough grace/whatever to carry you through, to make you strong...

should you disbelieve after the incident, well, you are never part of God's family after all,,

for these unhappy/unlucky happenings, God's works in mysterious ways, don't question, just believe,,,,

so if there is a God, He/She will be always right

 

[Unrepented]

Just to clarify because I did not make myself clear in this respect, and am not against any particular religion;

1. Christ may out of good intentions for humanity (for those suffering around the geograhic region), preach for a utopian society and made certain claims so that people will believe..... for the given ends is for the common good.

2. His followers gotten the points and gist of it and developed from there.

3. From the records in history and how the phrase " attend wake" was derived, he certainly wasn't the one and only that has risen from the dead. (Honestly, I hope you can disprove this. For my intellectual need as well)

4. He did rise after being pronounced dead (by who, we do not know), like the selected cases of patients who were diagnosed wrongly as mentioned in my previous thread.

5. No deceptive plans by anyone.

6. His followers honestly thinks he was dead and shocked to see that he is still alive. And given the fallacies of the human mind (psychology), see, fill-in the blanks, or give special attention to incidents relevant to what they want to believe etc.

7. Intent of all religions is good.

8. Records that Tibetan monks also "come back" as monks again.

Just my 2c and presumptions

Thank you for an educational thread.

With this I end my discussion in this thread.

Hi Unrepented,

Coming back to the point about the followers of Christ wanting to make a utopian world.

It does not hold water because:

(1) the disciples cannot see beyond their own face; Peter is a fisherman - what utopian world is he looking for except abundant fishes. Matthew only knows how to collect taxes.

(2) Therefore to suggest that these people suddenly have a philosophical awakening and decided to create a new world order, leaves me doubtful. They do not have that capacity for such thoughts.

(3) If you read their writings, their intention is just to spread the news that Christ is the long-awaited Messiah + the learnings they learnt from Christ when he walked, talked and slept with them - constantly teaching them of his standards and ways, revealing to them truths only for their ears. And it is this message that they preach - that Christ whom others crucified, is today alive and will come again.

(4) This was immediately offensive to the major Jewish religious leaders of that day - because Christ's death was due to their instigation and planning; And Christ's coming, this time as King and Judge leaves no more room for mercy. Just an impartial judgment - each according to their works, which is something this world really needs.

(5) The whole of Christianity rests on Christ's resurrection from the dead. That was the message of the 11 men. Disprove that and you can throw Christianity into the dustbin.

And this is the most interesting aspect. For more than 2,000 years, men and women, without meeting Christ face-to-face, staked their lives, time, effort and money on doing the deeds so that Christ will be pleased.

Moreover, they claimed that Christ is very much alive today and is present in their lives.

How then can 11 frightened, terrified, not too educated men conspire to bring about an utopia that will inspire the arts, charities, government, politics, economics, philosophy and others - all of which made better the lives of men and women? Allowing us to express the spark of the divine - which in my opinion, is what make us the image of God.

 

[foomt117]

For you information, I have dropped all my secular work. I am now a full-time working for God but a freelance worker, living my life to fully trust God to provide. I spend all my day reading and studying the Bible, trying every effort to obey God's commandments and writing words of encouragement. You can find these in thread Today's Scripture Reading under the same blog Discussions about Religion.[/QUOTE]

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what is i tell u that i already have a relationship with God? would u beleive me? what if i told you that i have experienced the Love of God and from what i can understand the experience from my limited mind tells you that no matter how many times you can read the bible in this lifetime, it can never beat even 1 second of experiencing God's Love?

U keep telling me those that i already know is true like Jesus do exist and was here to help humans save us from ourselves. But that isnt what i want to know. Can u stop jacking off from my direct questions about the contradictions of Christianity?

And, like what i told you, dropping your secular work is exactly what i would expect of any real beleiving christians

 

[whoami]

it doesnt matter what others claim. Most importantly, tell us why u tink urs is the true religion? Hv u personally experienced something to convince u so?

And what about u? Which religion or belief u belong to?

 

[kakowi]

Sigh.... why does every discussion on religion degenerates into a discussion of Chritianity versus others. What makes Christians so self-righteous in their views versus others hating that?

i truly hope that it is not a matter of christians denigrating other people's religions, at least i try very hard not to do so as i believe that religion is a very personal thing and that everybody's religion is important to them

what i did was to point out that Christ's own words is about salvation and condemnation, with no middle ground. It is of the form, "I am the Lord thy God and you shall have no other gods before Me"

It is not the form of relativism that exists today within some sections of christianity(eg gay rights) and also without in religious joint councils

it is a form of absolutism that gives rise to accusations of self-righteousness especially if you come from the point of view that you cannot prove yours and yet you are so definite about it. So definite that you make mine seems like wrong

yet if you consider it 'right' in the sense of 'day' from 'night', then you cannot avoid this form of absolutism; to make it relative is to change the words of Christ and that is not something i will do

the question then is what makes it 'right' and how can you prove it to be right?

that is a difficult question to answer




i am convinced i am right and you are equally convinced of yours

i can see flaws in your arguments and you are equally sure that you can see flaws in mine

therefore all i can say is that if you are in the search of a 'true religion', then consider what i said about Christ being God and the focal point of disproving the Resurrection. There are more direct and sophisticated arguments but this should suffice for now.



If you can disprove the Resurrection, then you eliminate one religion from your list and you can focus on the rest

If you cannot disprove the Resurrection, then consider why the Resurrection is so fundamental to your search for the 'true religion'

If you believe that the Resurrection is not unique and that there are others who had died and risen from the dead, then ask yourself if these people can deliver you from death, provide you with a place in heaven, wipe every tear from your eyes, each day live in your hearts and comfort you, strengthen you and claim that one day, you will live with them in Heaven and they will be your god and you, their people. If they make such claims, all i can say is i am amazed. You need to add another religion to your list.


In the end, it is a difficult thing to say but nonetheless a true point: all we have are choices and whether we want to or not, we live with the consequences of our choices, for good or bad. On a mundane level, vote PAP and you get this; vote Opposition and you get that; migrate and you get those. It is the same for religion. Whatever decision we take, we live with the consequences.



That was why I ask those who truly want to know God, to search for Him truly.

If you do not like my way of thinking, then start from yours but search for Him sincerely and truly.

If there is God, He will surely honour your search for Him.

This, I believe with all my heart.



In a few months' time, it will be Christmas.

Ask yourself in the midst of the secular celebrations, why did God decide to come into the human race that night 2,000 years back?

And I hope you catch a glimpse of what Christianity is all about.

 

[foomt117]

Christmas was a pagan celebration, not Jesus. Dont u know that it's common for a new religion to fuse with their old religion?

Winter soltice is on dec22. the Sun stays at the lowest point or the darkest longest nights for the next 3 days. On 25th dec, the Sun begin to have longer day and shorter night. So the Son/Sun of God begin to arise from the Death of Winter.

The Sun is our life giving source for Earthlings as God is to the Souls. Sun or Son is the reflection of God. Can you see how many "coincidences" are there? HAHA!!!

 

[kakowi]

Christmas was a pagan celebration, not Jesus. Dont u know that it's common for a new religion to fuse with their old religion?

Winter soltice is on dec22. the Sun stays at the lowest point or the darkest longest nights for the next 3 days. On 25th dec, the Sun begin to have longer day and shorter night. So the Son/Sun of God begin to arise from the Death of Winter.

The Sun is our life giving source for Earthlings as God is to the Souls. Sun or Son is the reflection of God. Can you see how many "coincidences" are there? HAHA!!!

Christmas is about the birth of Christ.

Pagans do not celebrate Christ's birth. They celebrate the Weather.

 

[whoami]

It is of the form, "I am the Lord thy God and you shall have no other gods before Me"

Hmmm...did Jesus really say those words?

 

[foomt117]

Christmas is about the birth of Christ.

Pagans do not celebrate Christ's birth. They celebrate the Weather.

Haha, of course pagans did not clelebrate christ's birth. It's the christians who celebrate the weather unknowingly. haha

 

[kakowi]

Hmmm...did Jesus really say those words?

No, he did not.